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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Tim Thornton, Bishop to the Armed Forces.

Good morning

Shamefully one of the realities that we remember at this time of year is that so many of the conflicts that have taken place have been between people who profess faith. Even more than that many of the people who have been killed in wars and fighting have been killed by people who profess the same religion and that is true of Christianity.

It is important that we recognise how deep the divisions go within Christian faith and how easily division moves towards violence.

Every day in Lambeth Palace we say the prayer I am going to use this morning. It is the prayer of a relatively new ecumenical community Chemin Neuf. A community founded by Roman Catholics and includes members of different Christian traditions. A key charism of Chemin Neuf is that it prays for unity.

As you will hear in so doing it reminds all of us of the pain and suffering of division. It is a true scandal of the Christian church that we choose not to move towards unity.

For me the prayer is powerful both because it states so clearly the reality of the pain and wrongness of division and also because it ends with suggesting there is hope, beyond all else there is hope.

As we remember so many who have died during this time of year, I pray in sorrow for forgiveness for all those who lose their lives in the name of Christianity and I pray earnestly that the hope which is beyond all hope will prevail.

Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.

Amen.

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